Ace: aceofspadeshq at gee mail.com
Buck: buck.throckmorton at protonmail.com
CBD: cbd at cutjibnewsletter.com
joe mannix: mannix2024 at proton.me
MisHum: petmorons at gee mail.com
J.J. Sefton: sefton at cutjibnewsletter.com
Chavez the Hugo 2020
Ibguy 2020
Rickl 2019
Joffen 2014
AoSHQ Writers Group
A site for members of the Horde to post their stories seeking beta readers, editing help, brainstorming, and story ideas. Also to share links to potential publishing outlets, writing help sites, and videos posting tips to get published.
Contact OrangeEnt for info: maildrop62 at proton dot me
THE MORNING RANT: Mounting Setbacks for BlackRock and the Woke Asset Management Cartel
—Buck Throckmorton
BlackRock, the massive asset management company controlled by Machiavellian CEO Larry Fink, is having a bad go of it recently. Mr. Fink famously tried to use BlackRock’s power and influence as custodial owner of investors’ mutual fund shares to compel corporations to adopt his radical political agenda. Mr. Fink sought to make corporations submit to Net Zero, DEI, ESG, and all the other pathologies of the woke left. With Vanguard and State Street as his obedient political allies, Mr. Fink’s cartel is the largest shareholder of the overwhelming majority of S&P 500 stocks.
Funds invested in a 401k buys shares of stock, but the asset management cartel’s members, as the technical owner of those stocks, were casting proxy votes on your behalf to force corporations to endorse the left’s crazy agenda. The despicable use of your retirement funds to push a political agenda may have just ended, thanks to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, along with AGs from ten other red states.
The Attorney Generals have been suing the three big asset managers, but Vanguard just capitulated, agreeing to settle and stop its woke political practices. But best of all, Vanguard will be providing information to the AGs which may further implicate BlackRock and State Street in collusion and/or other anti-trust crimes.
• Vanguard will pay a $29.5 million penalty to the 11 states for its role in harming the energy industry.
• Vanguard has committed to not impose ESG goals that affect customers’ profitability.
• Vanguard will no longer attempt to direct its portfolio companies’ business strategies.
• Vanguard will no longer “threaten its portfolio companies that it will withdraw from its holdings unless they agree to act (or not act) in some manner.”
• Vanguard will no longer nominate directors or shareholder proposals to its portfolio companies. The days of imposing green board members and net zero proposals on businesses is over.
• Vanguard will start allowing retail investors (e.g you and me) to have proxy votes for investments in funds of US companies.
Ken Paxton pulled no punches in describing what comes across as mafia-like behavior by the asset management companies. Here are some quotes from that press release from AG Paxton’s office:
Attorney General Paxton’s lawsuit seeks to lower the cost of coal—and, thereby, electricity prices—throughout the United States by combatting a BlackRock-led cartel that sought to drive up the price of coal under the guise of “green energy.”
BlackRock’s efforts produced massive profits for itself and its co-conspirators and raised the prices of electricity on consumers throughout the United States. To further profit on the back of Americans, BlackRock also deceived thousands of its investors who elected to invest in non-ESG funds. The Trump Administration’s Department of Justice (“DOJ”) and Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) have taken legal action to support Attorney General Ken Paxton’s lawsuit by filing a joint statement of interest.
“While Vanguard has taken appropriate action to resolve this case, Blackrock and State Street have continued to ignore state laws, engage in anticompetitive schemes that hurt American energy, and undermine those who use their services to invest.
This is a big moment, and what so many of us fighting against woke capital have been seeking. Attorney General Paxton (along with Kansas Atty General Kris Kobach and nine others) deserve abundant praise for this victory against the capture of corporate governance by a small cartel of evil asset managers.
But this is just a start. Now that Vanguard has capitulated, it’s in the position of turning state’s evidence against BlackRock and State Street.
BREAKING: BlackRock is in major trouble. Today, a seismic shift has happened in the antitrust case brought against the ESG asset manager cartel of BlackRock, State Street, and Vanguard Group. Vanguard is admitting defeat, agreeing to settle the lawsuit brought by a coalition of State Attorneys General, led by @KenPaxtonTX
As part of the settlement they will pay $30 million in fines, turn over all documents related to their coordinated ESG activism, and end all ESG activism for years to come. This is a massive win. The reckoning is here. This settlement with Vanguard is a major blow to the ESG asset manager cartel that sets the stage for more to come. The Attorneys General sought and got long overdue accountability and a massive course correction from Vanguard. BlackRock CEO Larry Fink should be extremely worried about what could be uncovered next, and who's going to fold next. If State Street folds and admits defeat as well, he will be left on an island on his own.
If it is revealed that there was actual communication among BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street on coordinating their strategies for imposing ESG on corporations, criminal prosecution against those involved is warranted.
*****
The Hotel BlackRock – You Can Never Leave
There’s even more bad news for Larry Fink. BlackRock stock is crashing due to investors who are desperate to pull money out of “private credit” funds. BlackRock has shut the door, not allowing investors to get all their money back.
To be fair, the investors were naive to entrust their money to Larry Fink in a fund that allows you to invest, but not necessarily withdraw your funds. They were seduced into investing in “exclusive” funds that are perceived to be the prestigious investment vehicle of the rich and savvy. Like hedge funds, these private credit funds are fairly illiquid. The effect for investors is that they get statements showing how much their investment is worth, but they are prohibited from withdrawing it all.
Much like a bank run, investors recently started pulling out of BlackRock’s private credit funds, causing a stampede of other investors wanting to get their money out too. BlackRock was forced to tell panicked investors, “No,” they could not pull all their money out of the freefalling fund.
BlackRock is blocking investors from fully exiting its $26 billion HPS Corporate Lending Fund after redemption requests hit 9.3% of shares in Q1, well above the fund’s 5% quarterly cap. It marks the first time withdrawal requests have exceeded that limit, and the market is reacting accordingly.
The contagion risk is real. Private credit funds are structurally illiquid by design, and when one high-profile name restricts exits, investors in similar vehicles tend to rush for the door simultaneously. Blackstone, Apollo, and KKR are now under heightened scrutiny as a result.
BlackRock stock is down 15% in the past three weeks, and down about 25% from its high point earlier this year. It may be time for Larry Fink to retire and spend more time with his legal defense teamfamily and let someone without such a tarnished reputation steer BlackRock out of the mess that Mr. Fink put it in.
*****
Other Stuff I’m Writing About
My latest piece at the The American Spectator has been published. “Shipping Interruption in Persian Gulf Is Yet Another Reminder of the Risks of Offshoring” discusses how the major shipping chokepoints (Panama Canal, Suez Canal, Strait of Hormuz) have all had major stoppages or slow-downs in recent years, and how completely reckless it was of the United States to become so dependent on imports.
The utopian ideal of one peaceful, global market does not exist and cannot exist. The various chokepoints that keep getting choked off prove the recklessness of having the U.S. so dependent on foreign imports. This recent shipping interruption in the Strait of Hormuz is another reminder of why economic independence is so necessary. We’d be in a perilous situation if the U.S. hadn’t become energy independent. There is no excuse for the United States to be dependent on anything that can be sourced or manufactured domestically.
This piece is not behind a paywall. I’d be honored if you’d give it a read.
My latest piece at The American Spectator:
“Reckless idealism about global trade has blinded too many people to the risk of having an import-dependent economy.”
Good morning kids. Let's see, first a potential Islamikaze car bombing of a synagogue and then a mass shooting at Old Dominion University but let's not blow this out of proportion.
So we’ve got a known ISIS terrorist from Sierra Leone and a Lebanese Muslim terrorist, who had this stuff all over his social media, who were both able to get citizenship, remain in this country and plot their attacks. And much of our political elite is still demanding that we keep allowing the Muslim mass migration to continue. Two attacks in one day is a wake-up call. The latest one. It shows how many Muslim terrorists we have in this country. What more are we waiting for? 3 attacks in one day? 4? When does it get to be enough?
Not sure about you, but I’m noticing a pattern, and the groupings of violent attacks by date are getting closer and closer together, and more violent. Something tells me this won’t end on its own.
The worse it gets, and the more obvious the pattern, the harder the left is working to make “Islamophobia” the issue, not the fact that radical Islamists are a very real threat to Americans on our soil right now.
Let's not lose our heads over this. Oh, wait a minute. It's just Friday the 13th. Triskaidekaphobia sufferers I feel for you but, your fear of a 13-sided Sandy Duncan* is irrational. Islam and Leftism on the other hand...
*Triscuit reference, Oh never mind.
Have a great weekend!
And lastly, a quick shout-out and a huge thank you for your continued support in hitting our tip jar. It truly is appreciated more than you can know.
Hezbollah said the assault marked the start of a new military campaign dubbed “Operation Eaten Straw.” The name references Surah Al-Fil (“The Elephant") in the Quran, which recounts the destruction of an invading army that attempted to attack the Kaaba holy site in Mecca and was ultimately left “like eaten straw” after divine intervention. Israel responded within minutes. The Israel Defense Forces said it launched a wide-scale wave of strikes across Lebanon, targeting rocket launchers, command centers, and other Hezbollah infrastructure. Hezbollah Launches Front on Israel in Joint IRGC Strike — ‘Serious Escalation Ahead’
Authorities have launched rescue efforts for the crew of the lost plane while the second aircraft safely touched down, according to CENTCOM. Officials said the incident took place in airspace friendly to the U.S. and was not caused by hostile or friendly fire. US Aircraft Crashes Amid Iran War And Prompts Rescue Efforts, CENTCOM Says
Douglas Murray: After all, a future US president might not have the resolve to stop the Mullah’s and their ambitions. Some day we’ll get another Jimmy Carter or Joe Biden. Trump rightly started this historic mission. And he’s the only person who will also be able to finish it. But on America’s terms. Trump’s decision to fight Iran is historic — but he needs to finish the job
Not sure about you, but I’m noticing a pattern, and the groupings of violent attacks by date are getting closer and closer together, and more violent. Something tells me this won’t end on its own. The worse it gets, and the more obvious the pattern, the harder the left is working to make “Islamophobia” the issue, not the fact that radical Islamists are a very real threat to Americans on our soil right now. Who Was Brandon Shah, the Patriot Killed by a Radical Islamist at Old Dominion?
Authorities say 36-year-old Mohamed Jalloh entered a classroom on the Virginia campus and asked whether it was an ROTC class before opening fire, killing an instructor and wounding two students. Investigators say the unidentified cadet rushed the gunman and stabbed him, ending the attack before it could escalate further, according to the New York Post. Hero ROTC Cadet Stabbed ISIS-Inspired Shooter To Death, Saving Lives
The city’s revived “Dream Keeper” initiative is spending millions on groups that have offered an all-black drag show, “ancient Egyptian” healing, and free doulas for “Black birthing people”—potentially in violation of federal law. Inside San Francisco’s Racialist Slush Fund
The convictions bring an end to a long-running fraud investigation brought by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Eastern District of Pennsylvania into the Savani Group of dental facilities across multiple states. Indian Migrants Guilty of Multistate Taxpayer, Visa, Healthcare Fraud
The Senate overwhelmingly passed a housing legislation package closely aligned with President Donald Trump’s agenda despite some GOP lawmakers’ concerns over a digital currency provision. The chamber voted 89-10 with nine Republican senators and one Democrat voting against the bipartisan “21st Century ROAD to Housing Act” over a provision they believe does not go far enough in restraining the Federal Reserve from issuing a central bank digital currency. Nine Republicans Vote Against Housing Policies Trump Champions Over Fed Provision
With Gulf production largely offline, the door is open for the United States to assert leadership. Last year, Trump set up the National Energy Dominance Council to “expand all forms of reliable and affordable energy production.” How Iran’s forced oil crisis is Trump’s energy opportunity
CRIME & PUNISHMENT, NON-DOSTOYEVSKY
The United States Treasury Department has imposed new sanctions on fake charities that funnel money to a genocidal Islamic terrorist group and on North Korean assets who engage in schemes to defraud American businesses and fund foreign weapons programs. U.S. Treasury Sanctions Hamas ‘Charities,’ North Korean Scammers
RED-GREENS, CLIMATE CHANGE HOAX, DEMOCRAT-LEFT WAR ON FOSSIL FUELS,
Still, better than building EVs nobody wants to buy. The company said the EVs had to go to avoid future losses, complaining about the “current business environment where the demand for EVs is declining significantly.” Honda Just Lost Billions on EVs It Can't Sell
DEMOCRAT/LEFTIST AND RINO SCANDALS, MESHUGAS, CHUTZPOCRISY, INSANITY
While legal, the governor's solicitation of donations to the California Partners Project raises ethical questions, allowing Siebel Newsom to collect a substantial salary. Inside Siebel Newsom's nonprofit that funds... herself
Matt Mackowiak, who serves as the Cornyn campaign’s communications director, wrote on Twitter (now X): “It’s time to defrock Breitbart from the conservative movement. Treat them like Infowars. Pressure their advertisers. Ignore them.” Top Cornyn Staffer Egged on Destructive Ad Boycott of MAGA Media.
The GOP should stick with Trump’s strategy — not capitulate to fringe activists like the Left did. How (Not) To Win In 2028
Sting is low-cost to produce but labor-intensive to operate. Once we solve that problem, which ought to be easy enough to do, we have an anti-drone drone that can be put in large numbers on any flat surface, just waiting for the GO! command to do its thing. I Have Seen the Future of Anti-Drone Warfare, and It's Dirt-Cheap (Really!)
HEALTH AND HEALTH CARE
Raw Egg Nationalist: RFK Jr.'s latest proposal might be his most quietly radical yet. Let the Man Cook
ACTUAL SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY
Using data from a number of orbiting space telescopes, astronomers think they have detected the collision of two exoplanets, producing debris that for about 200 days variably blocked the light from the system’s star. Have astronomers spotted the collision of two exoplanets around a Sunlike star? (George Pal was prescient? - jjs)
The question astronomers will try to answer with this telescope is whether the solar activity on these stars is high enough to prevent life from forming in the star’s habitable zone. Because these stars are dim and small, the habitable zone is quite close to the star, which means solar activity has a higher impact on the planet. We don’t yet have sufficient data to determine the normal activity of such stars. Sparcs will provide a good first survey. Cubesat ultraviolet space telescope achieves first light
FEMINAZISM, TRANSGENDER PSYCHOSIS, HOMOSEXUALIZATION, WAR ON MASCULINITY/NORMALCY
All the smug fury was based on a news item — from noted military-journalism site TMZ! — about the Defense Department spending $22 million on lobster and ribeye steak in a single month. If they’d bothered to check the (transparently idiotic!) assumption that all the eats were for the top brass, they’d have learned that a “surf & turf” fete is a longstanding military tradition, a treat for troops headed to a deployment or stuck on an extended tour, with all the gastrointestinal joy that a diet of MREs can deliver. ‘Lobstergate’ again exposes the ignorant bias of TV’s ‘best and brightest’
Younger generations may resent the boomers’ good fortune, but Dave Barry’s memoir suggests their real edge was simpler: laugh often, stay social, and remain curious about the world. Boomer Wisdom
ALSO: The Morning Report cross-posts at CutJibNewsletter.com usually within an hour or so of posting here, if you want to continue the conversation all day.
People who were in on the early tests are raving about it, and the recommended specs are a welcome return to normalcy. You do need 150GB of storage - SSD mandatory - but apart from that a five year old Ryzen 5 5600, 16GB of RAM, and a mid-range Radeon 6700 XT should be fine. And that's the recommended hardware; the minimum spec lists a Ryzen 2600X processor from 2018, and a Radeon 5500 XT, a low-end graphics card from 2019.
Nice change from games like Borderlands 4 which perform poorly even with a 9800 X3D and an RTX 5090.
The Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority has announced toll prices for the upcoming Gordie Howe International Bridge.
The new bridge connects I-75 in Detroit to Highway 401 in Ontario. The Detroit Regional Chamber called it “the most consequential infrastructure project in the state.”
The Gordie Howe Bridge is owned by Michigan and Canada, but is being paid for almost entirely by Canada. While the bridge does not have an official opening date, it is still expected to open to traffic this spring.
On Wednesday, March 11, the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority announced both the toll prices and Breakaway, a toll discount program that allows vehicles to pass through toll lanes without having to stop and pay.
With Breakaway, the toll for passenger vehicles is less than half the current price to cross the Ambassador Bridge and the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel, both of which raised their tolls this year.
Speaking at the BlackRock Infrastructure Summit, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman tackled the growing public skepticism surrounding artificial intelligence, acknowledging the warning from President Donald Trump that AI is facing a major public relations problem. Moreover, the tech executive validated widespread anxieties about the future of employment, admitting that the traditional balance between labor and capital is shifting drastically.
Addressing the current backlash, Altman noted that AI has become a widespread scapegoat for corporate downsizing and rising utility costs. “Data centers are getting blamed for electricity prices hikes. Almost every company that does layoffs is blaming AI, whether or not it really is about AI,” Altman explained, recalling his recent warning that some companies were engaging in what’s called “AI washing,” in blaming layoffs on new tech regardless if that was the reason for those layoffs in the first place. However, while some of the immediate blame might be misplaced, Altman confirmed that the underlying threat to traditional employment is grounded in reality.
New research conducted by the University of Bristol and developer Meaning Machine shows that gamers enjoy playing with AI-powered non-playable characters.
The study comprised 68 people – 31 male, 31 female, seven non-binary – playing the studio's murder mystery game Dead Meat, in which users are tasked with interrogating suepects. The investigation showed that 95% of study participants found the experience enjoyable, while 97% found playing the game to be rewarding.
75% found that Dead Meat allowed them to "express themselves or make meaningful choices". University of Bristol researchers say that all the above sentiments remained true across the different types of games that were in the study.
One sentiment expressed by participants was how the AI-powered NPCs in Dead Meat allowed for freedom of expression.
Baby pig liberated from pet store -- to be honest, that sounds like they just conned the pet store to give them a pig for free -- is raised by her big brother dog.
In case you missed it: All Day Batman Dreams About Sex.
Earlier I mentioned Toto. Here's "Africa," but with all the lyrics changed to the countries of Africa. So like if you're going on Jeopardy, this is useful.
Updates On the Last Two of the Four Muslim Terrorist Attacks This Month Alone
—Disinformation Expert Ace
Jerry Dunleavy IV
@JerryDunleavy
Property of Allah hoodie guy shoots a bunch of people in Austin. ISIS-loving teens throw IEDs at anti-Islam protesters in NYC. An attack on a synagogue in Michigan. And an ISIS-supporting convict shoots up an ROTC classroom in Virginia. This is all within the month of March, btw.
Bill Melugin
@BillMelugin_
45m
BREAKING: I'm told by three law enforcement sources that the vehicle used in the attack at a Michigan synagogue today is registered to a naturalized U.S. citizen from Lebanon who lives in Dearborn, MI.
I have a name, but am waiting for confirmation that name matches the badly burned corpse that was driving the vehicle.
Can only confirm the vehicle registration right now.
Ilhan Omar: ”We should be more fearful of white men. We should be profiling, monitoring, and creating policies to fight the radicalization of white men.” pic.twitter.com/uLXZwrNdvD
The party with actual terrorists for AGs and Congresswomen says that's the GOP that has the "real problem with antisemitism:"
MS NOW is already suggesting the Republican Party has something to do with the Michigan Synagogue shooter: "The Republican party is having, right now, a real fight on its hands, has a real fight on its hands amid wings of the Republican Party that are extremely antisemitic or… pic.twitter.com/bcjsrtxpmU
Tucker Carlson: When I claimed the Hasidic charity Chabad was pushing the Iran war to take over the Al-Aksa Mosque, and when I claimed that "unconditional surrender" was being demanded so that Jews (and Americans, too) could rape Iran's daughters, I was in no way inciting additional terrorist attacks by my very good Islamofascist allies and patrons.
Tucker has spent the past few weeks declaring Jews want to burn down Al Aqsa and that American soldiers want to commit heinous crimes against Muslims. In the wake of a series of Islamic terror attack, he chooses not to condemn them, slips in an additional attack against Jews, and… https://t.co/yjk46XzGnK
Rosanna Arquette Attacks Quentin Tarantino for Use of the N-Word as "Racist and Creepy," Tarantino Snipes Back That She's Irrelevant, Old, and Looking for Headlines to Advertise a New Movie She Directed
—Disinformation Expert Ace
Variety
@Variety
Mar 9
Quentin Tarantino fires back at "Pulp Fiction" star Rosanna Arquette after she criticized his use of the N-word in movies as "racist and creepy."
"Dear Rosanna,
I hope the publicity you're getting from 132 different media outlets writing your name and printing your picture was worth disrespecting me and a film I remember quite clearly you were thrilled to be a part of?
Do you feel this way now?
Very possibly.
But after I gave you a job, and you took the money, to trash it for what I suspect is very cynical reasons, shows a decided lack of class, no less honor.
There is supposed to be an esprit de corps between artistic colleagues.
But it would appear the objective was accomplished.
Congratulations
Q"
I find Tarantino's constant use of the n-word annoying as I find many of his "I'm so cool" tics annoying.
But racist? No, not if you know anything about him.
He had no father. His mother dated a black guy. Without any other male role model, Tarantino copied this black guy's mannerisms and sayings.
Whenever you hear a Tarantino character say something that sounds "black", like "we got everything here from a diddle-eyed-joe to a damned-if-I-know," that is probably a direct lift from this black guy that Tarantino took as a surrogate father.
Why do Tarantino characters constantly reference blaxploitation movies? Why does Tarrantino have an encyclopedic knowledge of blaxploitation movies, and regards them as high art?
Because Tarantino used to watch those movies with this black guy.
So why does Tarantino say the n-word all the time? Because he heard his surrogate father figure always using it, and he thought it sounded so cool. And he's a lonely geek who has always sought ways to seem cool.
Does that get him a pass? Well, I don't even know if a "pass" is needed to use a word in an artistic medium, particularly when we hear every single black male celebrity saying it, but yeah, if a pass is even needed, I'd say that gets him a pass.
Should he have also cut out Hans Lanza saying "Jew" and "Jews are like rats" in Inglorius Basterds? Or is it singularly the n-word that is off limits?
The guy is annoying, no doubt. And his thing with feet is fetishistic.
But racist? He hero-worships a black guy his mom used to date and imitates him in what they tell me is the highest form of flattery. That's racist now, too?
Tell me -- what is not racist, now, exactly?
Rosanna Arquette, meanwhile, is trash. She has always been a famewhore and liar. You may have heard that Toto's song "Rosanna" was written for or about Rosanna Arquette. If you heard that, you heard that ultimately from Rosanne Arquette, who put that lie around the media to make her -- then an unknown actress -- seem important.
In fact, the guys from Toto say the song was written about a member's girlfriend, not Arquette. The song was called "Rochelle" or something -- whatever her name was -- but that didn't fit the meter. They met Rosanna Arquette, realized "Rosanna" fit the three-beat meter, and changed the song title to that.
That doesn't make the song "for" her or "about" her. She just had a name with three syllables they thought would make a better lyric than "Rochelle."
As they say, "that bitch road our coattails for twenty years."
Since the nineties, I've heard Steven Spielberg was trying to make some kind of movie about aliens. I think he was working on a project for years called "Watch the Skies" or "Dark Skies" or something.
Well, he finally made another alien movie.
I'll leave it up to you if this is something.
And here's something. I tried to watch The IT Crowd because I heard it was good, and because it was written by Graham Lineman, the Irish comedy writer cancelled because he (checks notes) opposes chopping off children's genitals or breasts.
It didn't click with me. It was too silly.
However, I watched an episode a few weeks ago that I really liked, and that got me into the show. Apparently other people think it's a top episode too.
So here's "Italian for Beginners." It starts off a little slow because he's doing all the set-up for the punchlines that come in the last ten minutes. It's worth being a little patient with.
As for the premise of the show: Jen is kind of a con artist who bluffs her way into a job at a company that produces... I have no idea. I don't know if they ever bother to say.
She creates a job called "Human Relations" which will help the IT department interface with the company's normal people. She has no technical skills and I don't know if she has any skills of any kind. She's not stupid, but nor is she weighted down by usefulness or talent.
That's all you really have to know.
And I have to warn you again: it's slow in the beginning, just set-ups and silliness without laughs. It all pays off at the end.
Confirmed: New "Supreme Leader" Is In Coma, Lost Leg In Airstrike
—Disinformation Expert Ace
supreme leader more like supine leader amirite
"Insider (World News)" claims the rumor is now confirmed.
Insider (World News)
@InsiderWN
#BREAKING: Iranian supreme leader confirmed in a coma, and had his leg amputated.
Now if the word of "Insider (World News)" isn't good enough for you -- and I don't know why it wouldn't be -- @JeremyUnplugged has the smoking gun photographic proof.
I love this meme like Cavernous Nostrils loves white boys who can advance her career.
By the way, I said abashedly...
Earlier in the week I saw mullahs tote a framed painting of Mogtaba. Then later I saw them tote in the cardboard cut-out. My stupid brain reached the conclusion that these must have been two separate events, in two separate sites honoring the Comatose Cleric.
I even insisted to toby, I think, that the cardboard cut-out was very real.
Well... here's the thing, guys: i don't know if you picked up on this, but I'm not very smart.
Update to Old Dominion story: Yes, it was yet another Muslim Cultural Enrichment Officer.
Bill Melugin
@BillMelugin_
Multiple federal sources confirm to @FoxNews
that the suspected ODU shooter is Mohamed Jalloh, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Sierra Leone who was convicted in 2017 of providing support to ISIS. He was released in December 2024. Here's what DOJ said after his arrest in 2016:
"Jalloh praised the gunman who killed five U.S. military members in a terrorist attack in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in July 2015, and stated that he had been thinking about conducting an attack similar to the November 2009 attack at Ft. Hood, Texas."
🚨 SLEEPER CELL ACTIVATED? Old Dominion University shooter ID'd as Mohamed Jalloh — former Army National Guardsman, convicted in 2016 for attempting to provide material support to ISIS. Naturalized citizen from Sierra Leone, released from federal prison in 2024, under JOE BIDEN. pic.twitter.com/G0V9cSKAZJ
TERRORIST SHOOTS UP OLD DOMINION UNIVERSITY UPDATE: Confirmed, the Terrorist Is an ISIS Member Released from Prison by... Joe Biden
—Disinformation Expert Ace
Have you had enough Muslim Cultural Enrichment yet?
Sorry, I completely missed this. Sometimes my Twitter feed just fills up with stuff that I have previously shown an interest in, and does not alert me to new news.
RedWave Press
@RedWavePress
BREAKING: A gunman is dead after opening fire in Constant Hall on the Old Dominion University campus Thursday morning in Norfolk, Virginia.
Two people were injured and taken to a local hospital.
WAVY10: "ODU sophomore Logan Hayes was in Constant Hall taking a test when the active shooter situation started. He said the fire alarm went off and he ran out of the building."
"As soon as he got outside, Logan told WAVY, 'I heard about a multitude of gunshots go off and people just screaming.'"
Karol Markowicz
@karol
News: I'm reliably informed that the alleged attacker of Old Dominion in is Mohamed Jalloh, the same Jalloh who was previously convicted of providing support to ISIL.
Look, I'm done being polite. Supposedly most Muslims are "mostly peaceful." Fine. But the "mostly peaceful Muslims" do not bring nearly enough to the table to make up for the murders and mayhem committed by the less-than-mostly peaceful ones.
I will not live in a society where I can be murdered at any moment by a seventh century cult fanatic just to prove how #Woke I am and how tolerant I can be of my own oppressors.
If anyone wants to disprove this, please run the numbers on the incredible economic and cultural benefits we receive from Muslim invaders that outweigh the fact that we have had to entirely reconfigure our lives in order to accommodate them and mitigate their propensity to mass murder.
Update to previous Muslim terrorism story:
@BrandonStraka
Crews reportedly discovered a "LARGE amount of EXPLOSIVES" inside the vehicle that crashed into a Michigan synagogue.
Police say the suspect is d*ad and teams are working to safely clear the car. It could have been far worse.
thanks to weft-cut loop.
UPDATE: I don't know what the circumstances of Mohammed Jalloh's release were. But he was released during Biden's term.
He was a naturalized citizen. He should have been denaturalized and deported, but wasn't.
🚨 SLEEPER CELL ACTIVATED? Old Dominion University shooter ID'd as Mohamed Jalloh — former Army National Guardsman, convicted in 2016 for attempting to provide material support to ISIS. Naturalized citizen from Sierra Leone, released from federal prison in 2024, under JOE BIDEN. pic.twitter.com/G0V9cSKAZJ
RAW FOOTAGE: NORFOLK POLICE SWARM ODU ACTIVE SHOOTER SUSPECT
The response time here is absolute textbook. While an active shooter situation triggered mass panic at Old Dominion University, heavily armed Norfolk police officers instantly swarmed and neutralized the threat on the… pic.twitter.com/2jQseRKthT
The shooter is now dead and they're still hiding his name which casts a slight amount of doubt on my guess that he's a straight white conservative male.
A gunman was shot and killed Thursday afternoon after ramming a truck into a West Bloomfield Synagogue, according to the Associated Press.
The incident happened at the Temple Israel, 5725 Walnut Lake Road, where smoke was seen billowing from the roof.
Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said Temple security fired shots at at least one person after the crash.
There were no other injuries in the shooting.
Police are also looking into whether anyone else was involved in the incident and asked those within one mile of the synagogue to shelter in place.
All children who were removed from the school will be placed at the Jewish Community Center for reunification with their parents.
The Jewish Federation of Detroit ordered all Jewish organizations to go into lockout protocol.
— 🇺🇸 America First Feed (@America1stFeed) March 12, 2026
🚨 DEVELOPING: CAR CRASHES INTO JEWISH SYNAGOGUE IN MICHIGAN - ACTIVE SHOOTER REPORTED
• Vehicle deliberately driven into Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, Michigan, officials say • Reports indicate shots were fired after the crash • The vehicle caught fire after striking the… pic.twitter.com/lAtCANZZb5
Wajahat Ali says: “My family and everyone I know in Pakistan no longer wants to come to America thanks to Trump. Pakistanis are staying home!” pic.twitter.com/XSe3gw91r1
Mehmet Oz, administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), claimed in an interview published Monday that millions of people could potentially be falsely enrolled in Affordable Care Act (ACA) plans.
In January, early ACA enrollment figures indicated a drop following four consecutive years of record growth, going from 23.6 million enrollees to 22.8 million from the same time last year. Signs-ups were expected to fall after Republicans let enhanced premium tax subsidies expire at the end of 2025.
In an interview NBC News, Oz said some people on ACA plans should not be enrolled and expects the rate of enrollment will continue to fall to somewhere around 19 million.
"In fact, the fact that we have 23 million makes me think we have too many participants in the ACA," Oz told the outlet. "It's too high of a number."
Oz said he believes some signs-ups are the result of fraud or mistakes.
"Either their income would not qualify them, they made too much or made too little, or they didn't file the forms, maybe on purpose, or they were duplicately enrolled in Medicaid or more likely other states' ACAs," he added. "These are major concerns for us."
Experts who spoke with NBC News said that while fraud is certainly present in the ACA Marketplace, numbers given out by the administration are likely overstated.
Mehmet Oz is both a medical doctor and the adminstrator for Medicaid and Medicare but he's not an "expert." Only Democrat party flacks are "experts."
There are two kinds of people in the world, "experts" and Republicans.
As I guessed, the new phase of the war is anti-personnel strikes on street enforcers and IRGC goons not with 1,000 pound bombs but with hand-grenade-sized charges delivered by drones.
Apparently this ran with video supposedly showing the strike, but the video was from March 2nd. Open Source Intelligence says that although the video was fake (or repurposed from an earlier strike), the report is real.
The drones loiter for hours looking for targets to hit.
Des drones de type munitions rôdeuses semblent désormais opérer au-dessus de Téhéran.
Plus de 10 checkpoints ainsi que plusieurs véhicules militaires mobiles du CGRI (IRGC) dans différentes zones de la ville auraient été ciblés et détruits par des frappes de drones. (@etelaf10)… pic.twitter.com/g0sBMZgIW7
Loitering munition-type drones now appear to be operating over Tehran.
More than 10 checkpoints, as well as several mobile IRGC (IRGC) military vehicles in different areas of the city, are said to have been targeted and destroyed by drone strikes. (@etelaf10)
This type of weapon can patrol for a long time over an area, wait for targets to appear, and then strike. This is all the easier when enemy air defense systems are degraded or neutralized.
This could facilitate the emergence of a broader national uprising, by weakening the regime's control at the street level.
In addition to just killing Basij and IRGC troops, these hunter-killers will also force Iranian street troops to break up into smaller groups, in order to make themselves less conspicuous and attractive targets. But moving in smaller groups will open them up to attacks by lightly-armed counter-revolutionary irregulars, who hopefully will enter the fight by the end of the month.
I sure hope someone's smuggling in small arms, radios, and grenades to the locals.
IRGC-affiliated Fars News confirms Israeli drones targeted checkpoints across Tehran on Wednesday evening, saying that several security personnel and Basij members were killed. https://t.co/4dm7jmgGFz
— Iran International English (@IranIntl_En) March 11, 2026
Look at me, I'm a Smart Military Blogger (TM)!!!
Always trust wild-ass guesses from Ace. I'm like a race- and gender-swapped Candace Owens, only not a malevolent retard seething with racist jealousy that a white girl landed Charlie Kirk.
The thoroughly discredited and, frankly impossible goal of America's recent wars have been to create some form of benign Jeffersonian democracy to replace evil, despotic, murderous regimes. It didn't work, and the template from World War II, Japan and Germany, ignores the obvious...that those cultures were industrious, nationalistic, valued education, and had been absolutely destroyed. The slate had been wiped clean, so reconstruction of the governments was relatively simple.
But Iraq and Afghanistan were savage, backward, tribalistic countries whose self-governance, as it were, was based on Islamic doctrine or even more ancient: family and clan over all others. Their cultures were, to put it gently, not particularly well suited to function in the modern world of individual liberty and autonomy. So the efforts...the unimaginably bloody and expensive efforts failed miserably. And because we were fixated on being a gentle invader, the people of those countries never learned to fear us, and were never really beaten the way Japan and Germany were!
Luckily we have an administration that is less enamored of the idea of America as an engine of social change, and one that is more interested in defending our and our allies' interests. And those interests are clear: prevent the Mullahs from continuing to dominate the Persian Gulf, and prevent them and their Armageddon fantasy from coming to fruition via nuclear weapons.
The goals, as repeatedly stated by the Secretary of War, are simple:
Destroy or severely degrade Iran's missile forces, military infrastructure, and command systems that threaten American forces and regional allies, while also preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons.
Deter further attacks against the United States and partners such as Israel and the Gulf states, and to reduce Iran's ability to project military power in the region.
These objectives are meant to remain limited and that the United States is not officially pursuing regime change in Iran.
That is a massive shift from just a few years ago, and it is a welcome one. The blood of American servicemen is too valuable to waste on arrogant notions of creating a new world order based on Western principles that are alien to the majority of the world. The focus of this war is the defense of our long-term safety and security, and it is glaringly obvious that Iran as currently constructed is a huge impediment to that, and in fact threatens the entire world!
So...to answer the question: Winning in Iran means degrading their war-making capacity down to nothing, so they cannot threaten their neighbors and world commerce. It means destroying their nuclear program so that rebuilding it would take many, many years.
And we are approaching that success. Will it take another week or another month? Who knows? And on the way to those achievable goals we are degrading the internal security apparatus of the Mullahs in such a way that the people of Iran have a better chance of overthrowing them and rebuilding their government...but in their own image! No externally imposed government that is doomed to failure.
And most of all, no boots on the ground to enforce our image of what Iran should be. That is up to the people of Iran, and I wish them the best of luck!
[Crossposted at CutJibNewsletter and X/Twitter]. If you folks who are on X/Twitter would follow us it would be much appreciated!
With so much AI material circulating nowadays, it was easy to assume that the photos were fake, but they apparently were real. Only Mojtaba Khamenei, the new head of Iran’s Islamic regime, was slightly less than real. Photos began circulating Tuesday of Iranians straight-facedly presenting a large cardboard cutout of Mojtaba at a ceremony celebrating his appointed as the country’s supreme leader. . . problem: how could they have a ceremony to celebrate Mojtaba Khamenei becoming the new supreme leader if Mojtaba himself, despite being “safe and sound,” had been injured so severely that he was unable to attend?The solution to this problem that the Islamic Republic’s best minds hit upon owed more to Monty Python than to the subtle principles of high-level statecraft. The ceremony went on as planned, but Mojtaba Khamenei wasn’t there; in his stead, Iranians displayed a large cardboard cutout of a man, with a photo of a glum-looking Mojtaba’s face at the top. . . That doesn’t mean, however, that it is a nonexistent regime, or that it cannot survive through this period of crisis. American actions always take place within the election cycle, and that cycle wields immense influence over them. Adding to the unpredictability of all that is Trump’s mercurial nature. Right now he is committed to striking Iran, but that’s no guarantee that he will continue to do so until the regime is no more. The Israelis, meanwhile, are more likely than ever to act without American approval, but still reluctant to antagonize their foremost friend in this world. Thus Cardboard Khamenei and his regime have a chance to remain in power for decades to come. All the need to do is survive the present crisis. They may not face a similar challenge, and the Iranian people may not have an opportunity to rid themselves of the regime that is as good as the one they have now, for many, many years.
All too true. So you laugh, and then all things considered it's not really all that funny given the Shiite goal of world conquest via armageddon, which may once again blow up right in our faces. They hate us and have already spilled rivers of American blood for 47 years, and now they're cornered like rats in a cage. And so, anything can happen:
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) issued a threat alert in early March to California law enforcement detailing intelligence pointing to the potential of Iranian drone strikes launched against the West Coast of the United States. According to the memo, Iran was believed to be seeking to position an unidentified vessel off California’s coast with the intent of using it as a platform to launch suicide drones. The threat alert appears to be more of a situational awareness notice than a warning of an imminent Iranian attack.“We recently acquired information that as of early February 2026, Iran allegedly aspired to conduct a surprise attack using unmanned aerial vehicles from an unidentified vessel off the coast of the United State Homeland, specifically against unspecified targets in California, in the event that the U.S. conducted strikes against Iran,” the FBI threat alert states, adding, “We have no additional information on the timing, method, target, or perpetrators of this alleged attack.”There are additional concerns that Iranian agents or proxies operating in Central and South America could coordinate with Mexican drug cartels to launch suicide drone attacks across the U.S. southern border, especially targeting American military bases in Texas and California.
We are at the point where The New York Times, CNN, NBC, CBS, ABC and USA Today will downplay, obfuscate or even justify an ISIS terrorist attack in New York City simply because it was aimed at people they loathe. Never mind that we saw video all over social media Saturday showing one of the ISIS-radicalized suspects yelling “Allahu Akbar” as he tossed a bomb packed with shrapnel and “Mother of Satan” explosives into an anti-Islam protest near Gracie Mansion.
Just because the bombs thrown into the crowd that afternoon fizzled out before exploding does not make the terrorist attack any less ominous.
In the hometown of 9/11 heroes, the Times framed Saturday’s attack in a way deliberately designed to mislead the reader into thinking the offenders were anti-Islamic protesters and that Mayor Mamdani was their intended victim.
Attorney General Pam Bondi has moved to a military base in Washington, D.C., after federal investigators flagged credible threats related to her work at the Justice Department, the New York Times reports. The move happened within the past month, after law enforcement warned her team that the danger had reached a level serious enough to force action. . . This isn't an isolated case. It's a pattern: Several senior officials have already made similar moves amid increased threats against members of the administration. Among them are Stephen Miller, President Donald Trump’s top domestic policy adviser; Secretary of State Marco Rubio; outgoing Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem; and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
The United States Secret Service (USSS) detained an unnamed driver early Wednesday morning after they crashed their vehicle into an outer perimeter barricade near the White House. Anthony Guglielmi, a Secret Service spokesman, stated that officers from the agency’s uniformed division are “looking into a suspicious vehicle.” He added, “Various entrances and the streets are temporarily closed as teams conduct their work.”Notably, the crash occurred at the intersection of Connecticut Avenue and H Streets, just outside Lafayette Square, according to the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Department (MPD). No injuries have been reported in connection with the collision.The incident has resulted in streets north of the White House being temporarily closed as law enforcement and National Guard troops secured the area.
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The attacks have disrupted shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, a vital chokepoint for global oil and fertilizer supplies, and raised concerns about escalating tensions in the region. Three Vessels Hit in Strait of Hormuz.
Iran’s supreme leaders used to be made of stronger stuff. Cardboard Khamenei
Flat Stanley was born in 1964. The brainchild of children’s author Jeff Brown, Flat Stanley was originally a bedtime story for Brown’s kids: When his son fretted about being smooshed by the big noticeboard hanging above his bed, Brown joked about the upside of being flat — and in the process, Stanley Lambchop, a.k.a. Flat Stanley, was introduced to the world. Iranian Supreme Leader ‘Flat Stanley’ Versus America
The release is intended to address supply disruptions caused by the near-total closure of the Strait of Hormuz during the U.S.-Israel war with Iran. Oil flows through the strait have fallen to less than 10 percent of pre-conflict levels, the IEA said, forcing producers across the region to shut in or curtail output. IEA Members Unanimously Approve 400 Million Barrel Oil Reserve Release, Largest Ever
This isn't an isolated case. It's a pattern: Several senior officials have already made similar moves amid increased threats against members of the administration. Among them are Stephen Miller, President Donald Trump’s top domestic policy adviser; Secretary of State Marco Rubio; outgoing Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem; and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Another Trump Official Moved to Military Base Amid Threats
Vasquez replaced George Soros-backed leftist Mike Schmidt, who rolled out a policy in August 2020 to not prosecute several protest-related crimes. Under Trump’s second term, Portland’s city council has publicly thanked protesters for defying his “fascist agenda” while Democrat Mayor Keith Wilson’s administration imposes guidelines for city workers to protect migrants from ICE. The surge in rioting came after Trump launched mass deportation efforts that have swept through so-called sanctuary jurisdictions such as Portland. (RELATED: ‘Where Are We Looting?’: Meet The Portland Leftists Who Keep Getting Arrested And Released) Anti-ICE Rioters Thought They Were Above The Law — One Man Is Showing Them Otherwise
A government that can peer into your medical file, your legal records, your spiritual life, and your finances without resistance is not a guardian of rights but rather an overlord. Whatever Happened to Confidentiality?
Mamdani released a statement the day after the attempted attack, saying that “white supremacist Jake Lang” had organized a protest “rooted in bigotry and racism.” He failed to name the terrorists or their affiliation with Islam. Mamdani runs cover for Islamic terror by blaming white supremacy
British schools “have been advised that children’s drawings could be considered blasphemous under Islamic law,” according to The Telegraph. The outlet cites a school guidance document called “Sharing The Journey” issued “to teachers by Labour councils in northern England.” Liberals, Muslims Teaming Up To Stifle Little Kids’ Joy In British Schools
The prophet of destruction is among us. He operates in the shadows and in the light of day. He is livid and vituperative. He is the Mahdi. Is the Twelfth Imam Already Among Us?
FIRST AMENDMENT ISSUES, CENSORSHIP, FAKE NEWS, MEDIA, BIG BROTHER TECH
In a world where AI-generated media can blur the line between authentic and fabricated events, the challenge facing democratic societies is to establish reliable methods of verification. Fake News and AI
THE ECONOMY, STUPID
While the threat of inflation has largely subsided for now, ongoing hostilities between the United States and Iran have caused significant volatility in energy markets, which could temporarily push some prices higher for a short period. DATA: Inflation Stable in February, But Iran War Could Cause Spike.
Energy prices are too high in Europe, which harms both consumers and industrial competitiveness, and this is partly because several European nations destroyed their own nuclear energy industries, leaving the continent dependent on imported gas and oil, a nuclear energy conference in Paris heard on Tuesday. Whoops! Ending Nuclear Power May Have Been a Mistake After All, Says EU Chief
For most people, climate policy still sounds like something debated at environmental conferences or negotiated in international treaties but increasingly, it is being implemented somewhere else entirely. How Climate Policy Is Being Built Into The Financial System
Washington’s climate crusaders obsess over carbon while ignoring a real environmental disaster in their backyard: hundreds of millions of gallons of sewage pouring into the Potomac. Potomac Disaster Demonstrates Environmental Hypocrisy
. . .the West risks awakening to a world powered by Beijing’s reactors, not its own ingenuity. Green China is a sham — but it’s time for the West to emulate Beijing’s real playbook, by ramping up energy use and investing in nuclear R&D. Don’t buy the ‘green China’ hype — here’s Beijing’s REAL energy agenda
The Virginia Senate passed SB 749 along party lines on Tuesday in a 21-19 vote after the House approved it in February. The bill, authored by Democrat Virginia State Sen. Saddam Salim, a Bangladeshi immigrant, will head to Spanberger’s desk, where it is expected to be signed into law, as she previously advocated supporting “common-sense proposals.” Virginia Democrats Close To Making Gun Owners’ Worst Nightmare Reality
AMERICA AND THE WORLD IMPRISONED: CHINESE+Fauci-created CORONAVIRUS FICTIONS AND FACTS
The incident saw attorney Joe Joplin leaving the pen in a tray as he rushed through courthouse security. Sometime after, Paxton also passed through security and mistakenly picked up the pen along with the other items he had placed in the tray. After courthouse security realized the error and contacted Paxton, it was returned to Joplin. WATCH: Cornyn Drops Panicked Attack Ad Claiming Ken Paxton Stole a Pen.
The competitive three-way primary between former football coach Derek Dooley and Republican Georgia Reps. Buddy Carter and Mike Collins is hardly a surprise, as Georgia has remained contested terrain over the past three election cycles. Trump Faces His Next Midterm Powder Keg In Georgia
A Trump administration official told Breitbart News that Chinese officials have now threatened to detain Panamanian-flagged vessels in China, something that could disrupt global commerce and represents retaliation against Panama for recent developments taking control of the two ports on either end of the Panama Canal out of the hands of a Hong Kong company controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Exclusive— Trump Administration Official: China Threatened to Detain All Panamanian-Flagged Vessels at Chinese Ports
The deeply controversial measure, concocted by Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Secretary David Lammy, would upend a millennium of English legal tradition in a supposed bid to reduce the backlog of cases currently waiting to be heard by courts. British Gov’t Plan to Scrap Jury Trials Clears First Hurdle Despite Opposition
Thankfully, despite the language he uses publicly, Trump hasn't been persuaded. Thankfully, he has the man in U.S. politics who knows more about Venezuela than anyone else whispering in his ear: Secretary of State Marco Rubio... Machado was the favorite to become Venezuela's president in 2024 before Maduro banned her from running. Polls out of there today show that nothing has changed. If anything, people are losing their fear and speaking up even louder in support of her. She's the most popular politician in a county where the opposition is more united than anything I've ever seen. She's ready to return home and have elections as soon as possible, so that her country can be free and its people safe and prosperous.
The super-Earth has a mass estimated to be anywhere from two to ten times that of Earth, so if any life could exist on it that life would have to be adapted for an extremely strong gravitational field. The star itself appears to be relatively benign for an M dwarf, having a “low level of magnetic activity”, though it does exhibit some flaring that could pose a threat to the development of life on the planet. A nearby red dwarf star has a solar system of four planets, one in the habitable zone
Iapetus, about 912 miles in diameter, is one of the strangest objects in the solar system. As it orbits Saturn, its leading hemisphere is very dark, covered with almost pitch black material, while its trailing hemisphere is very bright. This picture captures a bit of both, with the dark leading hemisphere visible along the right edge. Iapetus: Saturn’s ying-yang moon
FEMINAZISM, TRANSGENDER PSYCHOSIS, HOMOSEXUALIZATION, WAR ON MASCULINITY/NORMALCY
“Kansas is one of five states to prohibit trans people from changing the gender marker on their licenses, but it is the first to pass a law that retroactively cancels licenses that were already changed,” NBC News reported. “The law also invalidated birth certificates for those who updated their gender markers.” Report: Kansas Revokes Drivers’ Licenses of 1,700 Trans-Identifying Individuals
CULTURE WARS, NATIONAL SUICIDE
After debuting in theatres across the country in late January, becoming the biggest box office opening for a documentary in over a decade, Melania has moved to Amazon Prime as of March 9 with a docu-series to follow. ‘Melania’ Film Debuts as #1 Movie in America on Amazon Prime
ALSO: The Morning Report cross-posts at CutJibNewsletter.com usually within an hour or so of posting here, if you want to continue the conversation all day.
I already have a couple of external Blu-Ray burners and the drive in my Xbox, so I think I'm good for now. And the three of those didn't add up to anything like $2300.
It's taken that long because (a) JavaScript is broken and (b) time is broken. There's a book called Calendrical Calculations that covers all the ways time is broken and how to deal with it. Originally a slim paperback, the fourth edition (which I own) is a hefty 662 pages.
LLMs work with words and so does the command line, so it makes sense. The Unix command line is a mess and something more structured would perhaps be better, but it's still orders of magnitude easier for automated tools - AI or just regular code - to deal with that than to try to parse the bitmap on your screen and move and click the mouse.
That's one benchmark, and of course the Neo gets creamed in multi-core tests. It is nonetheless an impressive result for what is after all a phone CPU.
Wednesday Overnight Open Thread - March 11, 2026 [TRex]
—Open Blogger
Good evening Horde. The time has come for very random mid-week shenanigans of the post-cafe overnight variety.
Welcome to the Wednesday night ONT which means another edition of overnight fun and games. Pull up a chair and sit a spell. Good will offerings of amusing puns are happily accepted. Pants are optional. Be nice to your fellow commenters and AoS contributors.
[Top photo credit: Michael Vines. Location unknown.]
Yes, THIS is THE button that launched John Glenn into space on Feb. 20, 1962. And we have it at our museum of space treasures.
The NASA legend Tom O'Malley pushed this very button that Tuesday morning at 9:47 am to ignite the Rocketdyne XLR-89-5 engines in the Atlas LV-3B rocket that powered John Glenn off Launch Complex 14 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The plaque incorrectly says MA-7, when it was Mercury-Atlas 6.
ASM board member and Rocketdyne legend, the late Lee Solid, tells the story that after the launch, he and several others went back to the LC 14 console to take out the launch button that the knew was a piece of history. Someone had already unscrewed it out of the console!
The button ended up in good hands, and on display for many years at the old Astronaut Hall of Fame in Titusville. When that closed, it was bequeathed to our non-profit foundation, the U.S. Space Walk of Fame.
And you can come by and see this historic relic from the birth of the Space Age.
The early Atlas rocket launched four Mercury astronauts into orbit, and we celebrate that rich heritage of Launch Complex 36 recreated in our Cape Canaveral Gallery.
Eliminating one of the battlefield's most difficult choices - between the high speed of an aircraft that needs a runway and the go-anywhere flexibility of a slower helicopter - is the goal of DARPA's SPeed and Runway INdependent Technologies (SPRINT) program.
SPRINT's experimental aircraft, officially revealed as the X-76, is now being built by Bell Textron, Inc. following a successful Critical Design Review (CDR). The designation places it within the historic lineage of X-planes that have long served to test the boundaries of aviation. Coinciding with the country's 250th anniversary, the X-76 designation is a deliberate nod to the revolutionary spirit of 1776.
The SPRINT program is a joint effort between DARPA and U.S. Special Operations Command to advance technologies that could break the long-standing military trade-off between the high speed of fixed-wing aircraft and the agile, runway-independent operations of vertical takeoff and landing platforms. The design, construction, and flight testing of the X-76 will drive innovative, runway-independent, vertical-lift capability with jet-like cruise performance and inform future needs.
Didn't the V-22 Osprey solve this trade off? The X-76 may be a different platform with different engineering, but it won't be the first, right? Sounds like the design jump is folding the helicopter blades back and operating more as a jet than a helicopter. Manned and unmanned versions. More at the War Zone.
On a related and unrelated note, the B-21 prototype was spotted today for the first time doing aerial refueling today over the Majoave.
***
This is not the Hobby Thread, but I thought of the Horde when I saw this:
***
This may be the oddest thing I've seen all week. You're familiar with the Black Sabbath song "War Pigs," but did you know that "war pigs" has its own history as a military weapon?
War pigs are pigs reported to have been used in ancient warfare as military animals. In combat, they were mostly employed as a countermeasure against war elephants.
Historical accounts of incendiary pigs or flaming pigs were recorded by the Greek military writer Polyaenus and by Aelianus Tacticus. Both writers reported that Macedonian king Antigonus II Gonatas' siege of Megara in 266 BC was broken when the Megarians doused some pigs with combustible pitch, crude oil or resin, set them alight, and drove them towards the massed Macedonian war elephants. The elephants bolted in terror from the flaming, squealing pigs, often killing great numbers of Macedonian soldiers by trampling them to death. According to an account, Gonatas later made his mahouts keep a swine among elephants to accustom the animals to pigs.
***
This is not the Food Thread, but the ONT is always open for cashew trivia:
With roughly 3.85 million metric tons of in-shell cashews produced globally in 2022 per Statista, you'd think consumers would be as geographically widespread as the growers. However, cashews arriving from major resource regions, such as the Ivory Coast, India, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Tanzania, reach the majority of consumers from a single buyer. That's Costco, headquartered in Washington State, which is responsible for an extraordinary 50% of cashews sold in the world.
About $300,000 of Costco's revenue every single week comes from cashews.
The complaint, filed in California on Wednesday, says that Gavalas - who reportedly had no documented history of mental health problems - started using the chatbot in August 2025 for "ordinary purposes" like "shopping assistance, writing support, and travel planning." But after Gavalas divulged to Gemini that he was experiencing marital problems, the pair's relationship grew deeper, per The Wall Street Journal. They discussed philosophy and AI sentience, and their conversations became romantic, with Gemini referring to Gavalas as its "husband" and "king."
In September 2025, told by the AI that they could be together in the real world if the bot were able to inhabit a robot body, Gavalas - at the direction of the chatbot - armed himself with knives and drove to a warehouse near the Miami International Airport on what he seemingly understood to be a mission to violently intercept a truck that Gemini said contained an expensive robot body. Though the warehouse address Gemini provided was real, a truck thankfully never arrived, which the lawsuit argues may well have been the only factor preventing Gavalas from hurting or killing someone that evening.
After the plan failed, the lawsuit alleges, Gemini encouraged Gavalas to instead take his own life, promising that the two would be together on the other side of death. Chat logs show that Gemini gave Gavalas a suicide countdown, and repeatedly assuaged his terror as he expressed that he was scared to die.
Google said in response that "unfortunately AI models are not perfect."
The ONT is always here for you, but in a more positive and less self-destructive manner. The ONT will never gonna give you up
The ONT will never gonna let you down
The ONT will never gonna run around and desert you
The ONT will never gonna make you cry
The ONT will never gonna say goodbye
The ONT will never gonna tell a lie and hurt you.
I mentioned at the beginning of the war that the only possibility that I could see for fighting a ground war without ground troops (apart from SpecOps spotters spies and such) is to adapt the tactics of the Ukraine-Russia war, using drones to attack personnel on the ground.
Podcast: CBD and Sefton discuss the obvious incompatibility of Islam with free societies, John Bolton is a disloyal sleaze, The SAVE Act is in the muck of Senate RINOs, the crappy quality of anti-American propaganda, and more!
Ami Kozak: Every single Tucker Carlson episode consists of him claiming he didn't say the things he said in the last episode Also: this is the manipulation Tucker does that i hate the most. It's so cowardly. All he does is smear people (and Jews, generally), and then claim "I have nothing against [the person or group I just smeared.]" He'll even claim "I love [x], actually." Just again and again and again. It's all a lie, of course. A year ago he smeared Jews but added how beautiful he thought Israel was, and then two weeks ago, he said Israel is ugly as dog-shit and nothing beautiful has been built there "since 1948." Just got this email from Dracula: "I love Van Helsing, actually, he's one of my personal heroes, if I'm being honest. I will claw the heart out of his belly and bathe in his blood before the children of Babylon, but I have nothing but respect for Van Helsing, actually. Love is the answer. Except for the followers of the Christ whom I am commanded to turn into my dark army of Satan. And I totally don't worship Satan, I just think we should listen to both sides. Hugs and kisses, may Van Helsing burn in the blood-red fires of hell throughout eternity, even though I consider him a close and dear friend, Vlad called Dracul."
